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Food |
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| Fall still fine time to find good crabs |
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| By Carrie Ann Knauer, Carroll Kitchens |
Friday, October 09, 2009 |
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While many people think of crabs as a summer food, early fall is one of the best times to find the bigger, heavier and best-tasting crabs.
And you can always buy pre-picked crabmeat any time of the year, so I thought this would be a good time to share some crabmeat recipes. And no, there are no crab dip recipes, since I’m sure by now everyone has his or her own recipe that they like and they stick with it.
These recipes are all from the 2009 Maryland Buy Local Cookout Recipe Book, which the Maryland Department of Agriculture produced earlier this year. The recipes were all designed by chefs and paired with Maryland wines. The first recipe features baby lump crab cakes, but didn’t include a crab cake recipe. Again, I think most people in Maryland have a crab cake recipe they like and they stick with it. So use whatever recipe you are accustomed to; I included the recipe because I like the accompaniment with it.
The crab salad with the watermelon salad sounds so refreshing, and then the crabmeat and vegetable pot pie sounds so hearty and autumnesque that I thought it was perfect for this time of year.
Enjoy, and keep sending your tomato recipes in for this month!
Fire-roasted corn and tomato salad with baby lump crab cakes
Juice of three limes
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon mild chili powder
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3/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup more set aside to brush the corn
3/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
8 large ears of local sweet corn, husked
3 cups cherry tomatoes, stems removed and halved
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1/4 lb. of cubed feta, 1/2-inch-by-1/2-inch cuts.
2 teaspoons toasted cumin seeds Baby crab cakes
Mache (a variety of lettuce)
Combine the first five items in a blender.
Slowly add the 3/4 cups of olive oil with the blender set at high speed (to create an emulsion).
Brush the corn with the additional 1/4 cup of oil; add salt and pepper to taste.
Bring a grill or flat-top up to medium heat and roast the corn until lightly charred.
Set corn aside to cool; when cooled, remove from the cob.
In a large bowl combine all ingredients and set in a refrigerator to cool.
Place 1/2 plug mache in the center of your plate; scoop 4 ounces of corn salad and place atop the mache.
Pair with two 2-ounce Baby Lump Crab Cakes.
Recipe by Executive Chef John A. Smith, of Main Street Catering & Brasserie, Prince George’s County
Eastern Shore crab salad with watermelon salad
1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, picked clean of shells
1 pound backfin crabmeat
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Juice of 2 lemons
3 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
2 spring onions, sliced
1/4 cup chopped parsley
4-6 pieces of flatbread, depending on size
In a bowl, add mayo, mustard, herbs, onions, lemon juice and mix together.
Gently fold in the crabmeat and adjust the seasoning.
Serve crab salad on flatbread and roll up into a log shape.
Serve with Watermelon Salad (see recipe below).
Watermelon salad
3 cups large diced watermelon
1 cup large diced cantaloupe
1/2 cup red onion, small dice
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped finely
1/8 cup of mint, roughly chopped
Splash of olive oil
Juice of 2 limes
1 cup crumbled blue goat cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
In a bowl, mix the lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, jalapenos and red onion. Add the melons and toss the mixture, coating evenly.
Serve the salad on a plate and sprinkle with the crumbled cheese and chopped mint on top.
Recipe by Chef Martin Saylor, of the Coastal Sunbelt Produce Company, Howard County
Crabmeat and vegetable pot pie in a sweet potato crust
4 medium sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 quarts vegetable stock
3 pounds mixed local vegetables (potatoes, corn, green beans, peas, carrots, red peppers and squash)
2 pounds handpicked Chesapeake Bay lump crab meat
1 teaspoon thyme
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Wash sweet potatoes and cut out any spots and remove eyes. Boil until soft and drain well, at least 1 hour. Mash.
Add flour until the consistency of a pie crust. Cut into circles that will fit in the bottom of a bowl and cover the sides. Bake the circles until slightly crisp.
Take vegetable stock and thicken 1 1/2 quarts of stock. The thickening agent will be 3 pounds of roasted local vegetables ground up in a culinary mill.
Add fresh thyme, salt, pepper when roasting the vegetables. Add 2 pounds of fresh crab meat to thicken stock, being sure to heat until 180 degrees. Place a pie crust circle in bottom of the bowl. Ladle stock and crabmeat on top of the crust. Place the top crust on and serve.
Recipe by Chef Rob Plant of Blue Wind Gourmet, St. Mary’s County, and Chef Ken Korando of Solomon’s Island Winery, Calvert County
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